


dreaMing

by SilverMoon53



Category: The Gifted (TV 2017)
Genre: Angst, Between Episodes, Emotional Hurt, Gen, Hurt No Comfort, I really love the whole dream sharing thing okay, Lauren-centric, aw well I had fun, but it's a concussion dream so it doesn't make a whole lot of sense, but this focuses on Lauren, it's just so cool, so I took that idea and ran with it, specifically between episodes 4 and 5, the rest of the main cast are all mentioned, what Lauren dreams after Andy knocks her out
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-14
Updated: 2018-11-14
Packaged: 2019-08-23 10:57:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,089
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16617653
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SilverMoon53/pseuds/SilverMoon53
Summary: “Now move!” Andy yelled, loud and forceful and angry.“I can’t do that,” Lauren replied, steadfast and calm.“Well, I’m sorry.”Then Marcos was shouting and Andy was attacking and Lauren couldn’t bring herself to risk hurting her brother so she didn’t push back as hard as she could and she was flying and flying then falling and her head hit the ground and she woke in a dream.





	dreaMing

**Author's Note:**

> /kicks down door/ gueSS WHO FINALLY GOT CAUGHT UP
> 
> IT'S ME
> 
> im dying please message me and talk about this show
> 
> I wrote this in one day so there's probably mistakes but whatever. Enjoy!

Lauren was lying on the ground, staring up at the sky. Rare patches of blue broke through the soft gray cover and she was scared that if she looked towards the building, she would see her brother’s face staring down at her.

She was even more afraid of looking up and not seeing him, so she rolled over and tried to sit up. 

The ache in her head felt like a memory, distant, detached. The world spun as she stood, swirling and shifting as though it was a computer trying to recalibrate itself. It was easy to ignore. 

Lauren knew this was the same dream as the ones she had shared with Andy, picking up where the last one had ended. She could still feel the way the air rushed past her as she fell, feel her brother’s cold grip on her hand, feel the explosion of energy as their powers collided. Reality warped around her, dream and memory indistinguishable, her connection to her brother tying strings of different worlds together. 

_I’m not scared!_ Andy’s voice thundered from all around, matching lightning splitting the sky. Lauren screamed and collapsed with her head in her hands, the pain in her battered skull skyrocketing. 

“Andy!” she screamed back. “Andy, stop!” The world fell silent, the agony receding. Lauren crouched, panting, ears ringing, head spinning, trying to slow her rapid heart. She forced herself to look up, to scan the skyline for her brother. A shadow moved, but the shape was too blurred for her to make out as it vanished back onto the roof. 

Lauren stood, took a step, fell down again. “Andy,” she hissed, her brother’s name feeling foreign on her tongue. She pushed herself up again, one hand cradling her head, and moved towards the parking garage. 

Every step was a stumble, a struggle to stay upright. Every time her foot hit the ground, her head pounded in synch. Every breath was a fight, burning fire in gasping lungs. 

The parking garage was empty, yet nothing echoed as she walked. Lauren wasn’t sure what, exactly, was driving her up to the roof, but she knew she was somewhere between a dream and reality, that her connection to her brother was deeper than anyone thought. They had these dreams for a reason, and she was going to find the reason for this one.

There was no elevator, but the door to the stairwell appeared before her and swung open on its own. She took the steps one at a time, counting as she went. 12 stairs, three to turn. 12 stairs, three to turn. 12 stairs, three to turn. Lauren timed her breathing to each step, inhale on the even steps, exhale on the odd. She held her breath on the landings, head spinning and the pain still growing, growing, growing. 

She lost count of the floors. The numbers were meaningless symbols, swirling and shifting when she tried to focus on them. She kept climbing. She had to find what was waiting for her at the top, on the roof. Had to see if her brother was still there, had to reach him. She kept climbing. 

_Lauren? Lauren, can you hear me?_ someone was calling to her, someone very far away. Their voice echoed around the stairwell, the only sound to do so. Lauren shook her head, trying to shake off the voice, trying to ignore their urgency, their worry. She needed to get to the roof. 

Lauren took another step and the stair collapsed beneath her. 

She tried to scream but her voice was stuck and she opened her eyes.

_Marcos stood over her, relief clear on his unfocused face. “John, she’s awake!” he shouted. He reached forward and Lauren felt his hand wrap around hers. “Stay with me, Lauren, we’re going to get you to the clinic, you’re okay.”_

_“No,” she tried to say. “No, I have to go back, I have to find him.” She wasn’t sure if the words made it out her mouth or if Marcos just plain wasn’t listening, but either way he kept muttering to her. “Andy,” she forced out and felt Marcos’s grip tighten around her. “I have- I have to-”_

_“Lauren, come on, stay with me, stay awake!” Marcos begged, but Lauren was already slipping back into the dream._

The stairwell was back together around her, as though nothing had happened. But the lights seemed brighter, and her head felt like it was being torn in two. Lauren shut her eyes tightly against the glare, reaching out blindly for the railing, and kept climbing. 

12 stairs, three steps to turn on the landing. 12 stairs, three steps to turn on the landing. The air seemed to grow thinner around her, until she was choking on nothing, and still she climbed.

The handrail ended. 

The door to the roof stood in front of her. 

It opened without resistance and Lauren stumbled onto the roof. 

It looked the same as it had in the last dream. Open. Exposed. 

But this time, Andy wasn’t there.

Instead, Lauren saw a shadow, a hazy outline that was unmistakably her brother, but not fully there. He was standing with his back to her, one hand against his head where hers had hit the ground. 

“Andy?” Lauren whispered, hoping he would turn around, hoping he wouldn’t. “Andy, I…” She trailed off, suddenly unsure of what to do or say. 

She stumbled forward, hands out to grab his shoulders, to make him face her, to answer for what he did, but she fell right through him. His apparition shuddered, as though he had felt her pass by, but otherwise remained unchanged. 

“Andy!” Lauren shouted, spinning around to face him again. “Andy!” He shook his head and faded. She tried to grab him, but he was gone too fast for her to do anything, even if she could touch him. “No. No, no, no no!” Lauren threw her head back and screamed, frustration and pain and fear and sadness overwhelming her. “What’s the point?” she demanded. “Why bring me here? Why?”

_Now move!_ Andy shouted again. Lauren started, stumbled and, still screaming, tumbled over the edge of the roof once more.

_“-made it out of there, the police-” John was saying, his voice more clear than Marcos’s had been. He said something else, and her father’s low tone responded. Lauren let herself be moved, tried to sit up, let herself be pushed gently back down._

_“Okay, honey, let me see you,” her mother said. “Open your eyes.” And Lauren did._

**Author's Note:**

> Writeblr blog: @silverssideblog  
> Discord: cloudcover#7167  
> seriously please message me on either of those if you want a response I'm so bad at replying to comments lol rip


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